(This is Part-1 in a series; for Part-2, click here.)
It’s Thursday, August 22nd, and…
I’m writing this piece the night before Kennedy and Trump are supposedly going to release big-time revelations.
O Rejoice! Rejoice!
Kennedy will drop out of the race, endorse Trump, Trump will welcome Kennedy into the fold, and Trump will make a specific promise—or lay out a broad hint—that he will appoint Kennedy to a key position after he wins the Presidency.
Whether or not any of this joy happens tomorrow, I’m writing this piece to bring up—let’s call it raw reality.
If what I just sketched out actually takes place tomorrow…a “best case” scenario in which Trump and Kennedy forge a political love affair…
Let’s start with this:
There are PRACTICAL barriers. You may have heard of them. They’re called checks and balances.
People are having orgasms speculating about RFK Jr. as the next FDA director, or the head of Health and Human Services, or even the director of the CIA, where he’ll finally carry out JFK’s promise to blow up the Agency into a thousand pieces.
But all these (and many other) key positions require SENATE CONFIRMATION. A majority vote.
So the Republicans would have to attain a Senate majority in the November election.
And even then, there are many RINOs in the Senate who would vote NO on a Kennedy appointment. To any position.
What about Kennedy as Attorney General or Secretary of State or Agriculture Secretary? They, too, require majority vote confirmation in the Senate. So would head of the CDC.
Trump could choose Kennedy as one of his advisors. But that kind of position doesn’t add up to real power.
There is a back-door strategy:
On his first day in office, President Trump fires the sitting director of, say, the FDA. While Trump then decides who to nominate as a replacement, he could appoint an acting director to fill the slot temporarily.
Trump could stall for a year or more making the decision on who to appoint as permanent director. Meanwhile, he puts Kennedy in as acting FDA director.
Without the need for Senate confirmation.
Of course, Trump would face a firestorm. But if he’s willing to deal with it, he could work that plan.
During the year or two of his tenure, Kennedy would undo as much long-embedded crime as possible at the FDA.
Or as head of the FBI. Or the DOJ. Or the CIA.
Trump and Kennedy supporters may want to assure us that Trump will withstand ANY level of political attacks to put Kennedy into a key post, even temporarily. But don’t be so quick to assume Trump’s courage on that score: